What did the Missouri AG approve as the official ballot question for the 2020 Hirner marijuana legalization initiative (petition 2020-126)?
Plain-English summary
Secretary of State John Ashcroft's office drafted the ballot summary statement that voters would have read on petition 2020-126, the Deirdre Hirner Article XIV recreational marijuana legalization initiative. AG Schmitt's job under § 116.334 RSMo was to approve the legal content and form of that draft summary. He did, and his approval letter quoted the proposed ballot question in full:
Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
remove state prohibitions on personal (recreational) use and possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivation of up to three plants for personal use by persons at least 21 years old;
remove state prohibitions on commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale of marijuana by state-licensed facilities;
impose a 15 percent tax on the retail sale of marijuana to primarily fund veterans' services, state highways, and drug addiction treatment;
limit local control of marijuana dispensaries; and
allow persons with certain marijuana-related offenses to apply to have sentences reduced and records expunged?
Schmitt approved the statement's legal content and form. As with all AG initiative-process reviews, the approval was procedural: it confirmed the statement's legal form, not the policy.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Common questions
Q: Did this petition appear on the 2020 ballot?
A: No. The 2020-126 petition (and its sister versions in this cluster) did not gather enough signatures to qualify for the 2020 ballot. Recreational legalization eventually reached Missouri voters as Amendment 3 in 2022, a separate initiative with its own ballot summary.
Q: What was the proposed tax rate?
A: 15 percent on retail sales of marijuana. Revenue would have been "primarily" dedicated to veterans' services, state highways, and drug addiction treatment.
Q: What did "limit local control of marijuana dispensaries" mean?
A: The opinion does not spell out the substantive limits, only that the petition would have constrained local government authority over dispensary siting and operations. Voters who wanted detail would have read the petition's full text rather than the ballot summary.
Q: How is the AG's review here different from the fiscal note review?
A: Two different statutes, two different documents. § 116.175 RSMo covers the State Auditor's fiscal note summary (the dollar-impact line); § 116.334 RSMo covers the Secretary of State's ballot summary statement (the question voters read). The AG reviews each one separately.
Q: Could a voter have challenged the ballot summary?
A: Yes. § 116.190 RSMo allowed any citizen to sue to challenge the official ballot title within a fixed window, and Missouri courts had developed a body of case law deciding whether ballot summaries were "fair, sufficient, and impartial." Verify current Missouri law before relying on the procedure.
Background and statutory framework
When the Secretary of State receives an approved-as-to-form initiative petition, his office prepares a 100-word (or shorter) summary statement that will appear on the ballot itself. § 116.334 RSMo requires the Secretary to send the proposed statement to the Attorney General, who reviews its legal content and form. After AG approval, the official ballot title is the combination of the Secretary's summary statement and the State Auditor's fiscal note summary.
This summary is the consumer-facing version of the initiative. Most Missouri voters will read only this short paragraph before voting. Petitioners therefore litigate ballot summaries aggressively when they suspect the language tilts the question against the policy they support.
Citations and references
Statutes: § 116.334, RSMo (Secretary of State's summary statement and AG review).
Related AG opinions in this petition cluster: 247-2019 (Auditor's fiscal note for 2020-126); 250-2019 (sister petition 2020-127); 252-2019 (sister petition 2020-128).
Source
- Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/251-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Original opinion text
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI
ERIC SCHMITT
December 2, 2019
OPINION LETTER NO. 251-2019
The Honorable John R. Ashcroft ©
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Secretary Ashcroft:
This opinion letter responds to your request dated November 21, 2019, for
our review under § 116.334, RSMo, of a proposed summary statement prepared
for the petition submitted by Deirdre Hirner regarding a proposed constitutional
amendment to amend Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution, (2020-126). The
proposed summary statement is as follows:
Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
remove state prohibitions on personal (recreational) use and
possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivation of up
to three plants for personal use by persons at least 21 years old;
remove state prohibitions on commercial cultivation,
manufacture, and sale of marijuana by state-licensed facilities;
impose a 15 percent tax on the retail sale of marijuana to
primarily fund veterans' services, state highways, and drug
addiction treatment;
limit local control of marijuana dispensaries; and
allow persons with certain marijuana-related offenses to apply to
have sentences reduced and records expunged?
Pursuant to § 116.334, RSMo, we approve the legal content and form of
the proposed statement. Because our review of the statement is mandated by
statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed
Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3321 OP-2019-0285
Fax: (573) 751-0774
Www.ago.mo.gov
The Honorable John R. Ashcroft
Page 2
as an endorsement of the petition, nor as the expression of any view regarding
the objectives of its proponents.
Very truly yours,
a ‘
sic
ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General
OP-2019-0285